One For The Money When it comes to holes in one, Tour pros are all aces

For amateurs, making an ace is like winning the lottery. Theymight make good contact on a particular par-3, but then so do ahundred others playing the same hole on a given day. Thedifference between an ace and simply being in birdie range issheer luck, the good fortune that made Mac O'Grady marvel at"the different universes this white mass of molecules has topass through on its way to the hole."

According to the National Hole In One Association, America's26.5 million golfers make about 150,000 holes in one each year.The NHIOA says your chance of acing a par-3 is about one in12,600. For the pros, though, an ace isn't so special. RememberLee Westwood's near hole in one at last month's Buick Classic?Westwood hit an eight-iron that zeroed in on Westchester CountryClub's par-3 14th hole, and as the ball hopped toward the cupand the crowd erupted, Westwood nonchalantly handed the club tohis caddie. He barely bothered to watch as the ball rolled overthe lip of the hole and stopped a foot away.

Westwood's peers may be more demonstrative, but they are hardlyamazed by their holes in one. Tour players make about one ace aweek, year after year. Unlike most of us, they expect to hit theball close to the flag. When it finds the cup, that's littlemore than a pleasant surprise. During the 1993 Ryder Cup at theBelfry, Nick Faldo was trailing in a tight singles match againstPaul Azinger when they reached the par-3 14th hole. "This wouldbe a good time to hole one," Faldo said to his caddie. His acemoments later helped him halve the match with Azinger.

The NHIOA estimates a PGA Tour pro's odds of making an ace on agiven par-3 at 3,700 to 1. Our study of recent Tour records,however, reveals that pros are more accurate than that. As thechart below demonstrates, they have aced one of every 2,016par-3s they have played in the past five years. The leader isGlen Day with four, while Dave Barr, Jim Gallagher Jr., GaryHallberg, Phil Mickelson, Joe Ozaki, Steve Pate, Jeff Sluman,Bob Tway and Willie Wood have three aces each. Day and Twayshowed the way at the '94 Hartford Open and the '94 Memorial,respectively, by making two holes in one in a single tournament.

For all their glamour, however, holes in one are neither as rarenor as valuable as double eagles. Since 1994 there have been 168aces on Tour, but only nine albatrosses. "I get much moreexcited about a double eagle," says John Daly, who has madethree aces and five double eagles. "Man, that's three shotsunder par." --Rick Lipsey

COLOR PHOTO: ROBERT BECK HOLIN' ONE An ace by Tiger Woods triggered one giant leap by fans at the '97 Phoenix Open.

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